Posts filed under ‘Trade Missions’

European countries are at the forefront of the worldwide effort to improve energy efficiency, enacting laws designed to encourage green development and favoring products and practices that decrease our dependence on carbon fuels.

France ‐the third largest market in the European Union ‐has dedicated the highest percentage of its economic stimulus package to green industries. Most of the economic activity and job creation resulting from the stimulus will be tied to green building. France has dedicated $256 billion for the thermal rehabilitation of existing buildings and $17 billion for new buildings.

The market is seeking new technologies and services to meet increasingly stringent regulatory environments. The United States is well‐positioned to provide state‐of‐the‐art products and expertise to the intelligent building sector.

Europe currently replaces only one percent of existing buildings per year. Governments are looking for ways to motivate property owners to retrofit their buildings . This conference will examine how to “put the pieces together” –how to synchronize four drivers of intelligent building practices –through innovative products and services, regulations, financing, certification and monitoring processes.

Mission ObjectivesIntelligent Buildings Trade Mission

SBA and the U.S. Commercial Service are working together on this trade mission to help U.S. businesses establish relationships, explore opportunities in the green building and renovation market, and facilitate export success to mission participants. These objectives will be measured through participation in:

1.Site visits coordinated by the city of Paris’ Economic Development Agency.
2.A Green conference specifically dedicated to retrofitting existing buildings.
3.Gold Key Matchmaking services provided through the U.S. Commercial Service –Paris.

The Export Green Trade Mission will be an excellent opportunity to network with leading industry professionals and learn more about doing business in Brazil. This mission, held in conjunction with the Green Building Conference, brings together entrepreneurs, executives and professionals in the sector to discuss issues of strategic interest to the market and enhance the benefits and concepts of sustainable design, energy and construction.

Why Join?
– Networking opportunities: meet other companies in your industry; establish potential partners; learn more about doing business in Brazil, explore how to enter in the Brazilian market and sell your product;
– Matchmaking services: have business meetings set-up with pre-screened contacts representatives, professional associations and government contacts; meet prospective trade partners in key industry sectors;
– Government Procurement: opportunities to meet with the government officials responsible for infrastructure and projects related to the World Cup and the Olympics;
– Brazilian Partners: Meet with the 5 largest Brazilian companies likely to be responsible for the upcoming major projects. Find out how to become a sub-contractor for these companies.

Travel: Participants are responsible for making their own flight arrangements. Meals, translation services, and ground transportation between meetings are included in cost of the mission and will be arranged by the Brazil Council

For additional information and delegation fee, click here. If you have any questions, please contact Luciana Rocha-Goldman or call (202) 463-5496.

Announcing guest star Assistant Secretary Nicole Lamb-Hale A/S Lamb-Hale will join the trade mission to help promote green exports to Brazil. Opportunities will be provided for participants in the trade mission to meet with the Assistant Secretary. Read more here.

The International Conference of the Green Building Council is the largest strategic event in the sector in Latin America. This event will promote upgrading, learning and business generation in a quality environment with intense networking for elected officials and event participants. Participants will explore the exposition area where the exhibitors will have booths with modern and functional design. This will be a great opportunity to interact with entrepreneurs interested in learning more about their products and services, creating an extremely favorable environment for business and relationships.
Export Green: Growing SME Exports to Brazil is a cooperator agreement from the U.S. Department of Commerce that will provide resources to U.S. companies to increase exports of green technologies to Brazil, create jobs, and strengthen American competitiveness in sectors related to green technology. Companies looking to boost their revenue will learn how to navigate and succeed in the Brazilian market through Export Green. To learn more about the project and get involved, please visit the Export Green website.

In a few months I shall have the honor to host a delegation of 80 business, education and community leaders in Tuscany to show its many touristic attractions. In this last post before Christmas, I would like to share a couple of pictures of paintings hosted inside the Uffizi Gallery, the Museum we shall visit in Florence.

Leonardo’s “Adoration of the Magi” (left) never got past the stage of a wash drawing. In this painting, the complex, ephemeral and dynamic nature of the human form -represented by a whirlpool of actions, emotions, gestures and expressions- contrast with the calm, statue-like central figures of the Virgin and Child. Leonardo was very entrepreneurial and a dynamic and restless person himself. After issuing a bill for 300 florins he left Florence and moved to Milan where he became a military engineer and an inventor of defensive and offensive machines.

The “Holy Family” (right) or “Tondo Doni” was Michelangelo’s very first painting and his only existing panel picture. The painting, almost marble-like in his forms and the use of light, offers only one straight line, separating the past -when people received the baptism by immerging themselves in waters and coming out as reborn- and the “new age” – Catholics receive baptism by “infusion”, without having to take off any clothes. The little St. John, standing nearby the wall, represents the transition between the two. According to a tale, the price of the painting was only 70 ducates. However, Angelo Doni, who commissioned the painting, refused to pay -too expensive. Michelangelo then doubled the price (140 ducates). Angelo Doni paid 140 ducates to keep the painting.

As 2010 comes to an end, on behalf of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of COmmerce and the Northern Kentucky International Trade Association, I would like to take this opportunity to wish a great Holiday Season to you and your family. A friend of mine shared with me a very nice, Italian Christmas Card. I am sure he won’t mind if I share it with you. Please click on this link to open the file.

Daniele S. Longo
Vice President, Business Development and International Trade
NORTHERN KENTUCKY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The Brazilian Embassy in Washington, DC and the American Chamber of Commerce in Sao Paulo are organizing an upcoming trade mission in the machinery and equipment industry. The Brazilian companies listed below will be traveling to Houston, TX, Cincinnati, OH and Washington, DC. You will have the chance to meet with representatives one‐on‐one to discuss business opportunities and potential partnerships.

Shadong Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Chamber of Commerce are hosting a delegation of business representatives of the Shadong province. The event, in partnership with the Northern Kentucky International Trade Association (NKITA) of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, the Ohio Department of Development and the City of Cincinnati will be held on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at the Millennium Hotel, Downtown Cincinnati.